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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Times of India: A tabloid

Times of India should call itself a tabloid, not a newspaper.I have switched to The Hindu long ago.But today, the paperboy dropped of Times of India (TOI) edition instead of my regular newspaper.So, for a change I had to go through TOI once again.

One look at the newspaper, and you realize how worthless it is. As an example, I will just discuss today’s International section in TOI.

1.Courtney Love says she will pose nude for Britain’s pop magazine.

She promised that she would be “naked as the day I was born”.

2.Post-Divorce, Britney’s sex video with ex-hubby is costing her dear.

She did a range of explicit sex sessions with her soon-to-be ex-hubby Kevin Federline and made a video tape of the stormy, unabated sex sessions…Sources say that the naked couple are seen in a series of raunchy love-making acts and sexual games…They did nothing all day but have sex.

3.Stripper almost split Moss, Doherty

Kate Moss and Pete Doherty had a tiff after he accused her of paying too much attention to a male stripper…

4.Slippery Catfight [with picture]

Women wrestle during a girls-only Amateur Jello Wrestling event in New York on Sunday. Every month, women from all walks of life, including lawyers, school teachers and students, wrestle in 50 gallons of clear jelly.

This is supposedly International News according to TOI.The Bangalore Times edition is nothing but pictures and lurid details of sex, actress, and models.

My sincerest advice:

If you have kids growing up in your household, do not subscribe to TOI.Whether you are conscious of it or not, your kids are absorbing all these lurid and lewd details while growing up.

ToI is Trash of India. What a piece of garbage. This so called 'national daily' is an embarrassment. Pictures of people partying in town, made up sex surveys, juicy photos, product placements passed off as news articles etc. Anyone with children in their house should not buy ToI. Reading ToI will stunt a child's intellectual growth. I have seen people buy this piece of crap only because it is cheap!! You get what you pay for.

I also read The Hindu. In fact, I recommend it to everyone. No, I am not a commie. There is a big difference between a commie and a progressive. I find decent regional, national and international coverage in The Hindu. It also has a nice Sunday edition with good literary reviews. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that all their op eds are left-leaning and are reproduced from NYT and The Guardian without any space for a counterpoint. I like Paul Krugman's column, but, one has to be familiar with US politics to understand what he is talking about.

Suj Nana,I find the same problem with the online version we get to read in North America. The front page itself starts with a picture of some juicy gossipy or sleazy story either from India or the US. In fact I have now stopped reading the online version of TOI and moved to Rediff news which covers more relevant and meaningful news. TOI for some bizarre reasons feels the common news paper reader is more interested in knowing about the lewd and sleazy life style detais of some perverted celebrities. What a shameful (or shameles) state a reputed daily has brought itself to.

Even my paperwalla used to throw (I cannot think of a better word for that newspaper) TOI when the other newspapers were late.I told him once that if he ever threw that horrible newspaper into my compound, I'd fine HIM 50 bucks.

There are good things about TOI. I buy the paper TOI in lots for these:* To use TOI paper for packing. The paper quality or something in it makes it excellent packing material.* Wrapping stuff.* It absorbs water very well and so I use it as paper napkins

I think today's headline in the TOI hit the final nail on the coffin - "After sex sting, AP governor Tiwari ejects prematurely". I'm done with this sleazy Tabloid of India. I'll be switching over to The Hindu.

It competes with Deccan chronicle and both are getting sleazier by the day.

TOI also does a lot of brand building and "distorted" news based on their "sponsors". People who think TOI is news and made decisions based on that, they will pay a huge penalty. They take flats for giving free ads, shares for positive coverage of companies - I believe the division is called 'Times Private Treaties' but the "news" will come in Times of India!

My apologies to commenters in this topic. I am surprised by your comments than content of this topic.Is it the first time you are seeing such stuff in Indian media newsparer, TV or Web?Then you must be living in another world altogether.Though on lesser scale Deccan Chronicle practicing it for many years. NDTV website uses the words sexiest babes, hottest babes.Recently Telugu people got double Dhamaka in the form of Zee Telugu and Zee 24 gantalu. indianmasala.com is out of business due to these two channels.These channels show cute little 'Item Girls' and locker scenes of WWF mnia (women).Sometimes I feel we are already a developed nation.

I am also an ardent fan of The Hindu. One comment says that Hindu is a communist newspaper. Giving space to different voices does not make a newspaper communist or congress. For that matter, The Hindu is also Maoist as it gives space to Arundhati or Azad. The Hindu is also a Farmer paper because it is one newspaper which has a rural correspondent. Take a days, Indian Express and read it along with The Hindu, one will spot the difference.

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